Doctors Without Borders Rejects Pfizer Vax Donation

Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières or MSF) has turned down Pfizer’s offer of one million free Prevnar 13 pneumonia vaccines.

According to a blog on the MSF site, "For years, we have been trying to negotiate with the companies [Pfizer and GSK] to lower the price of the vaccine, but they offered us donations instead."

Donations come with restrictions on which patient populations and what geographic areas are allowed to receive the benefits -- a process that can delay starting vaccination campaigns, says MSF. Additionally, says MSF, pharma companies use donations as "justification for why prices remain high for others, including other humanitarian organizations and developing countries."

Last month, however, GSK announced that it would offer its pneumonia vaccine to humanitarian organizations at the lowest global price.

Several drugmakers are joining the growing group of protestors who are distancing themselves from the Fox News Channel shows featuring Tucker Carlson and Jeanine Pirro after the hosts were accused of making bigoted statements.

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